Let Them Eat Cake

Abstract

Here is a profound question for our times: Why do we frost cakes?

If you grab any handy small child and ask them this question (for example, let’s ask Freddie, 4), you will probably get a variation on “It is the best part!” And “It tastes good!” Which is accurate, but cake tastes good all on its own, so why do we go out of our way to make it taste even better? The answer is partly in history, partly in structural engineering, and partly in chemical thermodynamics!